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Saturday, January 19, 2013

FRAMES PER SECOND: Most Anticipated Games

Frames Per Second is YPOIW's only regular gaming feature and the National Hockey League is the top professional hockey league in North America. Today is the first day of the NHL season after a bitter labor dispute that saw 3 months of the season wiped out. I mention this because hockey and video games are possibly the 2 things I love best and I'm trying to write this in-between the afternoon and night games(a little under an hour). A lofty goal sure, but games are all about goals, in fact one could say the same thing about hockey.

Here's 4 games I really want this year.

Sim City

If there's one thing I love it's deeply complex simulation games, don't ever get me started on AeroBiz: SuperSonic for the SNES if you know what's good for you. As such the entire Sim City series has a special place in my heart. This new entry is said to streamline the gameplay in various ways, the most exciting being the fact that I don't have to lay complex networks of piping under my city anymore. I'm definitely rooting that they port this to current or next-gen consoles at some point, because I'm not even sure I have a computer capable of running it without exploding. Either way I can't wait to build a massive and self-sustaining city... and FUCKING OBLITERATE IT.

Tomb Raider

I'll admit to never being a huge fan of the series, but this 2013 re-boot has me seriously intrigued. The 3D platforming looks like it's learned a lot from the Uncharted series, and that type of gameplay is seriously lacking on Xbox 360. The other noteworthy thing about this game is that the graphics are absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I also like the early indications that they're bring Lara in a more human direction, perhaps even allowing Crystal Dynamics to have some sort of character arc. I've always been sort of bored of Lara's female James Bond persona, it'd be kind of nice if she wasn't so throw-away.

Bioshock Infinite

I feel as perhaps that people were a little too hard on Bioshock 2. Sure the setting of Rapture wasn't anywhere near as interesting a 2nd time around but the things they did with the gameplay made it technically superior in a lot of ways. Perhaps people that love this series just ask too much of it, I've heard people complaining about everything from the dude-bro on the cover to the new setting. Speaking of that setting, I defy anyone to tell me that Bioshock in a floating city doesn't sound like a game they want to play. There's a very real chance we're going to see a steam-punk Big Daddy and I'm getting giddy even thinking about it.

Grand Theft Auto V

Arguably the most successful gaming franchise outside of Mario, GTA V feels like the game that we've all been waiting a generation for. With 3 protagonists that you can switch between at any time the game has a slight risk of losing a bit of the potency that made GTA IV so special, but at the same time the idea of multiple protagonists in an open-world game just sounds nutty. In many ways it seems like the evolution of the DLC from GTA IV with the important distinction of it not costing $100 to experience all the content. If Rockstar nails the idea of having multiple intertwining stories expect all the major action titles to follow suit in the coming years.

Furthermore, did you hear Rockstar saying the game is bigger than the worlds of all previous Rockstar games combined? that just seems insane. The biggest question I need answered right now is how many install discs this game is going to ship with on Xbox 360, it seems like anything less than 4 isn't even possible. Leave it to Rockstar to close out this generation with a bang just like they did with GTA: San Andreas back in 2004. Nothing about what they're promising with GTA V even seems remotely possible, which is going to make the final experience all the more impressive.

(by the way, I totally made it. Apologies for the short post this week).

I'm a casual fan of Bioshock, I enjoyed both games but I wasn't exactly over the moon with either. Bioshock 1 had an amazing story and setting but felt kind of clunky. Bioshock 2 felt great but didn't really accomplish what the first game did as far as creating an amazing atmosphere.

I think there's a clear way for Infinite to be the best Bioshock yet, and it's to do both things right.